Well folks, I recently was able to see The Amazing Spider Man and I liked it much more than the Raimi films. One of the biggest reasons was the story telling and how true this new imagining held true to the comic book that I remember. With having Peter Parker as a genius high school student who can make his own webbing chemically and shoot them through a home made mechanical shooter. I feel that Martin Sheen was a more realistic Uncle Ben than the previous version, much more fatherly. Introducing Gwen Stacey at the start of this new Spider Man legend was a perfect addition. Marc Webb as a director is no where near holding the greatness of Raimi , but with less films under his belt maybe that gave him some freedom?

With Raimi we all had high expectations and for some Sam delivered but for me he didn’t., it turned into to a mutated cartoon without empathetic tendencies that this new version has. The Lizard as the villain, wasn’t the greatest choice, who would have been a better choice? Kraven The Hunter? Or why not a new Green Goblin, that didn’t look like shit?? Anyways, all in all Andrew Garfield was head and tails over Tobey as Parker, man was McGuire terrible!!! I don’t think though that the look of Spider Man was any different, why not??

Perhaps the logo was a little different but not by much….though there is humour in this version this film is no joke, unlike Raimi’s trilogy. Spider Man is almost a ridiculous comic book hero, he wasn’t born a mutant like X Men or a rich kid having his parents murdered in front of him like Batman. Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider. Not my favourite super hero…..but in the end The Amazing Spider Man was much more enjoyable of an adventure film than Raimi’s films. Sorry folks but I give this 3.5 out of 5 stars and I am being very generous.

Dave’s review

**** ½ Out of 5

Well I loved the movie and it was far better than I ever expected. Unlike Neil, I also enjoyed the Raimi movies, but I think I would agree on this one being better.

While the origin story works well it’s only slightly brought down by being more or less the same as the 2002 version. Andrew Garfield makes for an ideal Peter Parker/Spider-Man and rather than being nerdy like Maguire he’s a bit more of a loner and just doesn’t quite fit in. And to be honest I liked him more than Maguire. With that said I also liked Maguire, but I think Andrew Garfield was the better of the 2.

Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy is a welcome addition to the series and her character was more likable than Dunst as Mary Jane and it doesn’t hurt that Stone is amazingly beautiful.

Overall I really enjoyed this one a lot. Pacing is solid with a very slight lull around the mid way mark, but besides that the Amazing Spider-Man is an excellent and fun movie and as of now my 2nd favorite film of the year behind Dark Knight Rises.